Laurel Wiley, 20, is pictured working at Colorado State University’s financial aid office on July 16. She is about to start her junior year at CSU and projects her debt load to be between $20,000 and $22,000 when she graduates with her theater degree. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

I suspect that some of the “apathy” about student loan rates has to do with lack of information on the subject. If I had not been asked to co-sign student loans for my nieces I would not know that the fixed rate for a private loan (5.49 percent) is below the rate for the government-subsidized loan (6.8 percent). It is outrageous that a loan subsidized by taxpayers would carry a higher rate than one that is not subsidized. This is a gift to the financial industry at the expense of taxpayers. If more people realized that students and taxpayers are being ripped off, there would be less apathy.

Mary Casper, Bailey

This letter was published in the July 18 edition.

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